61 Chapter 61 - The Southern Air Temple

The next day Sokka and aang wake up to find one of their natural snow walls gone from view. Seras and katara were already awake putting things on appa despite them sleeping later.

"What happened to the hill?" Sokka asks.

"It was melted." Katara answers him.

"Melted? How?"

"Ask seras." Katara says before walking away.

"Seras, What happened to the hill?"

"Well, I learned firebending last night and I accidentally melted the hill."

"Learned fire bending? What does that mean?"

"I learned by drinking from that guy yesterday. Whoever I drink from, I get their powers."

"Wait, does that mean you can technically use all the elements if you drink from those types of people?" Sokka asks the main question.

"Probably. Although aang is the only air bender and I don't want to drink from good people."

"Wow, that's amazing."

"What are you guys talking about? What do you mean drinking?" Aang asks confused.

"Should I?" Seras tilts her head to katara.

"No! Definitely not."

"Fine, but I'm not explaining it again." Seras shrugs her shoulders before jumping onto Appa's back.

A few minutes later, the rest are done packing and they all get in appa.

"Let's go buddy, Yip yip." Aang rubs Appa's head before saying this.

A few hours later, katara finally got done explaining to aang about the planet and different universes. But before she can get to the part about seras being a vampire, Sokka interrupts her.

"It's great that we have a main target, but are we just going to head north until we hit the North Pole?"

"Well, I would like to stop by my home before then." Aang says.

"Your home?"

"Yes. The southern air temple."

"But aang....."

"What?"

"Nobody has seen an air bender for a hundred years. I'm worried about what you might see."

"Just because nobody has seen an air bender doesn't mean they don't exist." He says after a few seconds in thought.

"Yes but-."

"That's enough katara. We should just go." Seras interrupts her.

"Very well."

"Anyway I do have a question aang."

"Yeah?"

"How do you air bend?"

"What does that mean? I just do." He states as he creates a ball of air that goes around his head.

"I mean how does it feel when you do?"

"It feels like I'm interacting with the air around me and controlling it." Aang states after a few silent seconds.

"I see. What about you katara?"

"It's the same as aang except I need a source of water. I feel the water with my body and I control it with my movements." She demonstrates while taking a small bit of water from her water bag."

"I see."

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, now that I can firebend, I want to learn how to control it. Last night really scared me as the fire that came out was way too big."

"Too big?"

"Yeah, it was like a tornado being punched out of my fist."

"You're exaggerating. I never heard of a firebender doing that. Let alone a beginner." Sokka scoffs.

"It's true. I'm surprised nobody else woke up due to it." Katara affirms seras' statement.

"Seriously?" aang asks.

They both nod.

"Then don't practice while on appa. You might burn him."

"Fine, but I want you to show me some air bending techniques before we reach land."

"How can air bending help you with your fire bending?"

"It's just a feeling. Plus I think air bending is very interesting."

Over the next 8 hours, aang and seras are caught in a never ending conversation about bending. Sokka and katara try to plug their ears to drown them out.

"Wow, So you developed a way to ride on an air ball to race?"

"Yes. It was very fun to do. Until I learned I was the avatar." He laughs before sighing sadly in remembrance.

"Did they ostracize you?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't malicious. They just thought it wasn't fair to the team I wouldn't be on."

"That is ridiculous. From what you told me, you were a better air bender before you found out about your status. They just found an excuse to not try to better themselves."

"Really?" He asks excitedly.

"Of course. When you learn firebending, I bet you won't be able to reach my shoes in your entire life." She stands up smugly.

"You're on!"

"Count on it."

"That's enough about bending you two. We should make camp tonight." Katara states as she points to an island.

"Very well. Let's go down buddy."

Around an hour later, aang fed appa and katara was making dinner. Sokka is sharpening his boomerang.

Seras goes to a secluded area surrounded by flatland and sits down on a boulder.

'Now lets see if I can control my fire bending.' She closes her eyes and breathes slowly.

She gets up and takes a stance before punching out. A smaller stream of fire is released but it is still much bigger than any fire nation soldier.

"Damn it! Why is it still so strong? I didn't even do anything to make it powerful."

"What was that?" A voice asks from behind her.

Seras turns around to find Sokka giving a surprised look.

"That is the result of not knowing how to control my firebending. Pretty stupid right?"

"Stupid? No, that's great!"

"Why?"

"Because you're so much more powerful than any soldier. You can wipe out hundreds without breaking a sweat."

"I can do that without firebending. I need to control this or I'll burn down a forest every time I want to practice."

"That's true."

"Maybe I should just not move while doing it."

"Not move?"

"Yeah, I moved less this time and the flame was smaller."

"That was smaller?"

"Shh!"

"Sorry!" He covers his mouth.

Seras closes her eyes and draws a breath. She extends her hand out and faces her palm upward. She breathes out and a fireball the size of a bowling ball is produced on top of her hand.

She opens her eyes and sees the spectacle. She then moved her palm upward slightly and the fire ball explodes into a tornado that goes into the sky.

"Damn it all! How the hell did that happen!?" She kneels on the ground before yelling into the sky very loudly.

The birds that were hiding in the trees in a 500 meter radius all leave at the shout.

"What happened!? Is everything ok?" Katara's voice sounds out behind them.

"It's just great! I can't control my firebending."

"Who just released that giant fire tornado!? Are we being attacked?" Aang comes out after.

"No it's ok, seras is training her firebending." Sokka answers him.

"That was seras? No wonder she was so smug."

"Yeah, but the smug one is not doing so well right now." Sokka points to the still kneeling seras.

Aang gets worried and goes over to her. He places a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. It's just I don't know why my firebending is so hard to control."

"Then Practice. I had the same problem when I learned air bending. My teacher said practice makes perfect."

"Practice makes perfect. Truer words have never been spoken." Seras mumbles before standing back up.

"Thank you aang. Now get back, I need a lot of space." She gestures before closing her eyes again.

"Ok." He smiles before backing up.

'Ok breathe in, breathe out. Wait. I'm a vampire, I don't have to breathe. Is that why it's so powerful?' She thinks and tries out her thought.

Seras stops breathing and extends her palm again. This time a fireball the size of a tennis ball is released and seras moves her hand. This time the ball follows along her hand and doesn't explode.

"you did it!" Katara claps happily.

"Yes!" She punches the air with the fireball and realizes the problem too late.

"Shit!" She yells as the fireball blows up into the largest fire tornado yet. It gives off a massive force as it extends into the sky like a natural disaster.

"What the hell!?" Sokka yells as he jumps to the ground covering his head.

Aang and katara do the same until the fire stops.

"Sorry." Seras says with an awkward smile.

"What do you mean sorry!?" Sokka yells angrily.

"I was just so excited I forgot to control my force."

"I've never seen such a big flame before. I hope the firenation doesn't discover us."

"Don't worry. This was my fault. If they come, I'll send them away." Seras states with firm conviction.

"How can you fight them yourself?" Aang asks.

"I have super speed and strength. Taking out a few hundred normal people will be a snap."

"I'm pretty fast as well."

"Oh? You want to race?"

"Definitely!"

"You can't. We need to finish making dinner and then go to bed. It's a long way until the North Pole and we still need to stop at the southern air temple." Katara denies them.

"Speaking of, do you know where the temple is?" Sokka asks.

"I know it's near water."

"We're in the middle of the ocean!" Sokka yells.

"Don't worry, it's in the Patola Mountain range. We just need to head there." Seras states.

"That's right! It's there." Aang affirms before walking to the camp site.

"Different universe knowledge?" Katara asks already knowing the answer.

"Yep!" Seras states while smiling back.

The next day, the gang is all packed and ready to go when Sokka brings them together.

"Ok guys, I figured out where the patola mountain range is, it's here." He begins while spreading out the map and then pointing to it at the end of his statement.

"That's great, we should get there by tonight." Aang says excitedly.

"Great." Katara says.

They all get on appa and soar into the sky.

A few hours after they left, a black ship arrives around the island as it sails past it.

"Reports state that a massive fire was released into the skies over this island yesterday. Also a large bison was seen flying in the air this morning. It must be the avatar learning how to firebend."

"I don't think so nephew. It said that the entire night sky was illuminated by it. No mere beginner could release such a thing. Even if it was the avatar."

"So you're saying I'm here for nothing?" Zuko growls.

"I didn't say that."

"What do you mean uncle!?" Zuko yells in annoyance.

"The flying bison obviously points to the avatar and his group. Also that fire wasn't natural. This leads me to conclude that there is a very powerful firebender in that group."

"A powerful firebender? Who?"

"Isn't it obvious nephew? The avatar is an air bender, and the two kids are obviously water tribe. Who else is left?"

"The blonde? But she didn't use any firebending when she fought us."

"Yes, which leads me to a rather surprising conclusion."

"Such as?"

"She might have just learned how to firebend when she fought you."

"That's impossible!"

"Why else would they release such a flame? If not on accident?"

Zuko goes silent at that remark and can't refute it.

"I still can't believe she learned how to firebend two days ago. I also can't believe she would be this powerful so soon."

"I understand. But under the circumstances that's the only conclusion."

"We will know soon enough." Zuko goes back inside the ship.

A few hours after they left the island, seras is bored and decides to try out some tricks she thought of last night. She sits cross legged and sticks out her pointer finger in front of her.

She wills the energy inside of her and a small deep red flame is created at the top of her finger. She smiles and then moves her finger to the side. The flame follows her finger but leaves a trail of fire behind it.

Sokka sees this spectacle but before he can yell stop katara stops him. Sokka looks at her and sees her shaking her head.

Aang is oblivious to the sight as he is on top of appa's head holding the reigns. seras continues to form shapes in midair with the flame.

She creates the face of her master and stops the flame at her pointer finger. Sokka and katara then come up to her.

"What do you think you were doing?" Sokka asks angrily.

"Huh?"

"Yes, I don't think you should firebend on top of appa without more training." Katara says.

"I'm sorry, I was so bored and I've been thinking on my firebending for the past few hours." Seras leans on her back and the face made of Fire follows her line of sight.

"How did you do that?" Aang asks.

"This?" Seras points to the face.

"Yeah, I've never seen a firebender make such a thing. Plus my teacher told me fire made from firebending shouldn't last this long." Aang touches the fire and notices that it's not hot.

"And it's not hot." He puts his hand through it.

"Really? Wow, it's not burning." Katara asks before putting her own hand through it.

"Fire doesn't have to burn. It's so weird, in my old universe being able to control fire to such a degree is amazing. But here, the firebenders only use it for destruction."

"What do you mean?" Aang asks.

"Well firebenders use their chi to combust the oxygen in the air."

"Oxygen?" He asks again.

"Don't ask. Her knowledge is way past ours." Katara says.

"So anyway, Fire is the result of combusting oxygen through a medium like wood. But here, we use the energy inside our body to combust it. But there are different types of Fire."

"Different types?" Katara asks.

"Yes, there is fire that doesn't burn like what you just witnessed and there is fire that can burn anything. It's all about temperature, but there is a problem."

"A problem?"

"Yeah, in my old world. no matter how low we got a fire couldn't exist below 400 degrees Celsius. Yet I made one that is outside temperature."

"So?"

"It should be impossible. Yet I made it rather easily."

"...."

"This leads me to believe that firebenders can control the temperature of their flame with precision. I made the flame so it's temperature was around 30 degrees Celsius. That's why it looks so red, it's not hot."

"What does color have to do with fire?" Sokka asks.

"Oh man, that's a very difficult question. Good thing I don't have to answer it right now." She smiles before pointing to the front.

The rest of them look and see a giant structure built on top of a mountain top.

"It's the southern air temple!" Aang yells with excitement.

The other two look from behind while seras is staring at the picture of her master. She gives a sad smile before willing it away.

'I'll be back soon Master. Plus I'll be bringing back a few gifts for you.' her smile turns sadistic.